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Humble Bundle: greatest sale of indie games ever?

Starting today, you can name your price for a game bundle that includes some …

A group of indie developers are selling a package of their games which includes some of the biggest independent games on the market. Gamers can name their own price—from 1¢ to $1,000—for a pack of games that would go for around $80 if sold separately. Anyone who buys the package can feel better about themselves as well; customers can send any amount of their purchases to two major nonprofit groups.

The sale, nicknamed the "Humble Bundle" by the studios involved, is certainly epic. The games included in the package are World of Goo, Gish, Lugaru, Aquaria, and Penumbra Overture. Each of these titles has proven to be a solid hit, and the fact that five separate studios are working together to make them available to gamers for however much they wish to spend is unusual. As Jeff Rosen of Wolfire explained to Ars in a recent interview, the close-knit sense of community among indie developers is largely responsible for the sale's existence.

Small beginnings

The idea for the sale had humble origins. There wasn't any formal plan by the different developers to get together; it was something that seemed to come about from a moment of inspiration. "It was really one of those 'a-ha!' moments," said Rosen. "We recently teamed up with the Natural Selection 2 guys to do a bundle promotion, which was influenced by Steam's indie bundles, and that was a huge success. So I was kind of brainstorming about what we could do to top that, and this idea came about. Everyone in the promotion is 100 percent independent, and we are all buddies, so it only took a few emails to organize the whole thing."

This sense of community is seemingly common among indie developers. Rosen says that while the Game Developers Conference helps small studios build relationships with one another, it is only the beginning. Calling Ron Carmel of 2D Boy a friend certainly helps, too. "We really look up to Ron Carmel... and he pretty much knows all indie developers," Rosen said, though he was quick to point out how Internet communities help, too. "There are a lot of indie forums, and mailing lists, so most indies have really easy access to each other."

Bundles are increasingly more popular with indie developers; as we recently saw with 2D Boy's "pay what you want" sale of World of Goo. "All of the technology is here now, so it's feasible for indie developers to do something like this," Rosen explained. He went on to show an example of this affordable environment: "We recently wrote a blog post on our system, which got [around] 300,000 hits, and Google charged us 11¢ for the traffic. So you no longer need to have access to expensive, beefy hardware and professional sysadmins to put on promotions like this. Thanks to PayPal, Amazon Payments, and Google Checkout, we don't have to be massive merchants to accept credit cards."

Great indie games, great nonprofits

This sale is different from those held by indie developers in the past: aside from the number of major indie studios involved, it's tied to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child's Play, two of the biggest nonprofits in the video game industry. "I wanted to include [both nonprofits] for a couple of reasons," Rosen said.

"First of all, they are truly awesome causes. Child's Play's mission to bring video games to children in hospitals is really worthwhile, especially given the anti-video game sentiment [often present in the public]. [The EFF] resonates strongly with the anti-DRM message of the humble bundle and fights many good fights. I know that many people are going to donate one penny to the bundle to get all of the games, but maybe by having the charities involved, people will at least give a fiver to Child's Play."

That's another unusual thing about this sale: customers can choose exactly how much of their money goes where. According to Rosen, "this promo has no middle man (other than your choice of PayPal, Google, or Amazon to process the payment) and you can choose exactly where you want the donation to go. You could snub all the developers—and the EFF—and just give to Child's Play; we would still happily give you all of our games for all three platforms, DRM-free."

What will happen if people refuse to send their money to the developers themselves and instead send it to either Child's Play or the EFF? "That is a possibility," Rosen said. "Even if no one donates to the developers, and they give 100 percent to charity, I would consider that a success."

The developers go out of their way to make the games accessible to a broad audience; they "work great" on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. And they're DRM-free: "Feel free to play them without an Internet connection, back them up, and install them on all of your Macs and PCs freely."

There is no downside here: gamers get a great selection of indie titles, the developers enjoy a nice bit of publicity, and two very worthy causes are supported. If you'd like to play some games, and support the developers and/or nonprofits, there are much worse ways to spend your money.

96 Reader Comments

Wow. This is great. Only heard of a couple of those games (one of which is World of Goo, which I got the second time they did name your own but it's still awesome) but then I haven't tracked gaming news as closely as I used to.

At the very least I'm gonna forward this to some friends have yet to play these and game on a budget.

I've actually only donated just under $10 and gave it all to charity because I already bought the World of Goo, I wonder if many are donating this and skewing the average price/donation bit low...

We are looking at it as a paid demo that includes the entire games. So we are thinking $40 ($20 each), since we assume we won't like or play all of the games. If a game grabs us, we just donate more to that developer. Overall, I really like this payment system.

DRM free is really what draws me into this bundle, knowing that I will always be able to go back and play these games and the ability to support not only the developers but two very noble organizations; excellent promotion and I hope that it allows them to continue making games.

Also, I was literally reading Wolfire's blog post on this when I opened up Ars.

The only one of these I don't own is Aquaria - but having played the beta test for a serious amount of time, it's a pretty easy purchase. I tend to pick up games from the Indie games houses - partly because as a Linux gamer, they provide the majority of the commercial games on this platform but also to encourage more Linux ports in the future.

My biggest problem is free time. I don't have any, having a new baby in the house. I paid up for the Osmos Linux release a couple of nights ago but I have no idea when I'm actually going to play it properly...

The speed at which the fund raising is going is amazing. When I bought the pack, it was at $16k. I played Aquaria (which is btw an amazing game, never heard of it before) for about 30 minutes, and now, it is at $32k! The whole concept is really great, and I will now keep an eye on other games from those studios.

Back to test Penumbra, the name ring a bell and I think I read really good reviews of it

PS : By the time it took to write this post, the money want from $32k to $33k. Amazing !

Does the EULA let me retain my first sale rights? I think this is an oft overlooked part of the whole digital rights debate - I shouldn't be a criminal simply for lending a game to a friend. Anyways, if the answer is yes, then I really do own these and I'm in for $50. If no, I guess it's a pretty good rental deal and I'm in for $10.

Edit: Just got it - I think I'm the only person that cares, but here's what I found:

The bundle does not have an overarching EULA, so the agreements vary from package to package.

Penumbra Overture: Outright forbids transfer of license to use the program and implicitly forbids letting others use it on your computer.

Lugaru & Gish: Both just come in a zip file. Neither has a licensing agreement in the folder and running the executable does not bring up an EULA. As such, I am treating it as license-free software and assuming my use is bound only by copyright law.

Aquaria: This one seems a little contradictory. The first relevant section of the EULA reads

Quote:

C. You are entitled to use the Program for your own use, but you are not entitled to:

i) sell or grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Program to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Program to others without the prior written consent of Bit Blot;

But later it reads

Quote:

8. Limitations on License. Nothing in this Agreement shall preclude you from making or authorizing the making of another copy of the Program provided, however, that (1) such new copy is created as an essential step in your utilization of the Program in accordance with the terms of this Agreement and for NO OTHER PURPOSE; or (2) such new copy is for archival purposes ONLY and all archival copies are destroyed in the event of your Transfer of the Program, the Termination of this Agreement, or other circumstances under which your continued use of the Program ceases to be rightful.

Which would seem to suggest it can be transferred. I guess I would personally put more weight on the first provision limiting my rights, but IANAL.

World of Goo: the EULA specifically grants the right to sell of transfer a copy, provided you destroy your copy(s).

Does the EULA let me retain my first sale rights? I think this is an oft overlooked part of the whole digital rights debate - I shouldn't be a criminal simply for lending a game to a friend. Anyways, if the answer is yes, then I really do own these and I'm in for $50. If no, I guess it's a pretty good rental deal and I'm in for $10.

I was wondering how long it was going to take before someone found something to hypothetically complain about.

Does the EULA let me retain my first sale rights? I think this is an oft overlooked part of the whole digital rights debate - I shouldn't be a criminal simply for lending a game to a friend. Anyways, if the answer is yes, then I really do own these and I'm in for $50. If no, I guess it's a pretty good rental deal and I'm in for $10.

1. An infinite rental period with no DRM sounds a lot like ownership.2. If it bothers you that much, pay 50$ and tell it to split it all between the charities. That way you'll get your games and stick it to those money-grubbing developers.

I was wondering how long it was going to take before someone found something to hypothetically complain about.

Wouldn't want to keep you waiting

It's definitely a good deal, and I'm going to make sure I get some money to the developers either way, but I guess we all have pet issues that we care about.

Edit:

Tofystedeth wrote:

1. An infinite rental period with no DRM sounds a lot like ownership.2. If it bothers you that much, pay 50$ and tell it to split it all between the charities. That way you'll get your games and stick it to those money-grubbing developers.

1. The difference is whether I can give it to my friend when I'm done, just like I a book.2. I think I misspoke earlier. I certainly support these charities and will whether or not I get these games. And I will almost certainly get these games too, but my support for the developer will vary.

And for everyone, this wasn't a criticism, it was an honest question. Not every publisher, even big game publishers, make you surrender first sale rights. For example, if you bought the boxed copy of Borderlands, you are explicitly granted First Sale rights. http://www.take2games.com/EULA/ - \o/ !

Anyways, I didn't see an EULA, so has anyone looked for/found an anti first-sale provision?

I highly recommend Penumbra to adventure fans. The only problem is that it is a horror adventure game, so if you don't like to be chased by monsters you might not like it. Otherwise, it really should have been the future of adventure gaming. It's like Half-life 2 mixed with an adventure game. It is first person and uses a good physics engine. Instead of doing pixel hunts you use the mouse to open drawers and cabinents, or to knock stuff around to find items. There are some pretty traditional adventure game puzzles, but also some physics based puzzles.

World of Goo is also fantastic, but I'm not going to try and describe it, ha ha.

Aquaria: Super Metroid, but underwater: it's a sidescrolling action/exploration title in a vast and open environment. The gameplay is virtually identical (epic bosses, heavy exploration focus, and requiring ability unlocks to access new areas). The artwork is fantastic, too. Aquaria is truly something special... its design, length, and polish are way beyond what one would expect from an indie title. It also features a unique (and extremely well implemented) singing feature... it's primarily used to transform your character and interact with the environment, but I spent more time than I'm comfortable admitting just sitting in a peaceful part of the environment and singing.

World of Goo:On paper, one might call this a side-scrolling structure-building puzzle game, but in practice, that definition is worthless. The game starts pretty basic, and involves clicking-and-dragging different kinds of goo balls (each with special properties) to build structures... the goal in any given level is to get a certain number of goo balls to a pipe located somewhere in the level. However, the creativity, style, and polish with which this gameplay is implemented sets it in a class unrivaled by any other puzzle game made... by the halfway point of the game, you're doing shit you'd have never imagined upon first starting. And the design of the puzzles ranges from "really good" to "goddamn magnificent."

Along with Plants vs Zombies (sadly but understanably not included in this bundle), these are the three highest-quality, most unique, and most deeply loved indie titles available.

PS - Guys, chicks love these games. If you're trying to get a girl into gaming, or want to do something special for a girl who already games, this is the way to do it.

I'll do this when I get home. I already own World of Goo and Penumbra, and I don't anticipate even playing the other 3 games since I have a backlog of other games I want to play... but I want to support this type of offering from these indie developers.